Wednesday, August 27, 2008

almost as fast as Big Z turned 5 last week, Baby Z turned 6 months couple days ago. of course, really, technically speaking, that first sentence doesn't make sense, but you get where i'm going, yea?

if there's one word to describe Baby Z, it'll have to be 'big'. Baby Z really is rather on the 'big' side. them baby's growth progress charts you have on the medical record book thingy ... let's just say her dot to represent her growth since birth has always rocketed above the average line. she's both heavier and longer/taller than the average baby at her age.

:: month 0 - was only 2 weeks old here ::

:: month 1 ::

:: month 2 ::

:: month 3 ::

:: month 4 ::

:: month 5 ::

:: month 6 ::................................

but with big (physical), comes big in personality too. baby Z has always appeared very alert and aware of her surroundings. this, something i'd observed from her 1st month. she'd notice and respond when you call out her name and at times will wriggle or kick her legs in approval and enthusiasm when you call out her full name. on that note, it's good to know she likes her name too. ;-) while rather shy and reserved with other people, at home, when it's just the four of us, she's full of laughter. and recently she's added some 'words' to her vocabulary too. i swear she's been trying to say "hello" and "alright" a few times now. hard to believe, yea? hehe. but both the Daddy and Big Z heard her attempts too on separate occasions. so, either it's true, or we're all very much disillusioned here. lol

at 6 months old, Baby Z's able to sit up unaided, though i still fear a tumble of sorts, so cushions around her are aplenty when placing her seated anywhere. she's also very much in love with her chubby lil hands and loves studying her fingers, bringing them up close to her eyes, and then away from her and back again to her eyes. putting her on her back for a change will see her roll over almost immediately and then getting stuck, not knowing quite how to roll back. there are times she rolls over and back again in lightning speed, but often it'll be just one way and then will kick away waiting for someone to come to her aid. quite an adorable sight, if i may be so bold to brag about here. ha-ha!

to date, there's no visible sign of any tooth making their debut in her cute lil mouth, but she does push her finger(s) in her mouth quite a bit; first with soothing happiness, then escalates into anger and annoyance. and i'm thinking: why push it so far in then, my dear?? Big Z never sucked his thumb or pushed fingers into his mouth. people say it's sign of teething, but Baby Z's been doing this since 4 months-ish and still, no sign of teeth .. so i'm taking it as purely habitual fun for her.

as mentioned above, she's rather pleasant and happy at home. her biggest smiles and laughs though are reserved for her big brother. all he needs to do is walk into a room she's in and those happy feet and legs will start kicking and dancing. the smile almost immediately too cracks up some comical laughter and soon both Zs will be laughing together. on a mommy's viewpoint ... watching such innocent joy from her kids just makes it (motherhood) all that much more worthwhile. i do wonder how their relationship will be over the years. there'll no doubt be the sibling squabbles, and i'm anticipating the bulk of such squabbles be when they're 7 and 2 respectively (if not sooner!). but generally, as a whole, i hope and pray that theirs (relationship) will be one filled with much love, care and respect for each other. i'd like to see how they'll defend each other at times when either one of them or both are caught (by the Daddy and/or myself) for some naughty lil act they've done.

:: laughing at her brother's antics ::

:: the closeness that is Big Z and Baby Z ::

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now that Baby Z's 6 months old, i'm reminding myself to start thinking up and preparing the necessary for her 1st birthday party. will there be a theme? of course! it's her first, and i'm going to go all out (budget permitting, naturally) with her 1st birthday. i already do have the theme and party favours in mind, but i haven't started making/preparing anything just yet.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

you hear it often - "time flies", "has it been that many years already??!". true enough, time really did seem to fly past us. we now have a 5 year old son. how did that happen, ey??

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previous years, we celebrated Big Z's birthday with the whole commotion, excitement and tiredness that are big birthday parties.

held a month after moving into our own home, Big Z's 1st birthday party also served as a housewarming party. there was no theme that year, but i did have fun preparing favours for the kids. i bought plastic beach pails and filled them with toy cars for the boyss, lil girly accesories for the girls, plus some candy and a lil book for all.

his 2nd birthday was my first attempt at organising a themed party. theme was 'colours' and i had prizes for most colourful guests according to gender and age group. favours were packed into colourful wrapping paper folded into lunch bag type of bag.

my personal favourite was his 3rd party. 'polka dots in blues, greens and dark browns' was the theme. i had so much fun making the favours and invites, i don't mind doing it all over again! how's that for utter mommy madness? haha ...

his 4th birthday saw a different venue. held at my parents', it was the first party i had incorporated games with lots of prizes to give away on top of the individual party favours i had already prepared for all kids. the theme was 'pyjama party in red, blue and white'.

so when this year started, i was gearing up to prepare another themed party for him. turning 5 seemed a rather big deal to me. 4 is still all-too-cute and cuddly an age, but 5 to me, is like the start of a new lil man. 5 year olds are old enough to understand things better, to think for themselves (and often this comes with the consequence of having to put up with their countless of opinions on everything under the sun!) and to show more of what they'll possibly be like in the near years to come. so, while on the one hand, a party to plan and host promised some good fun on my part, i was equally keen on keeping it low-key; just within the family. having a new baby in the family was key to my final decision. it was decided then (with Big Z's approval, obviously!) that we keep it low this year, that Big Z would be celebrating his birthday with just the family. of course, there was also the birthday do he had in school (which the school does for all kids come their birthdays). but big themed party was not in the works at all. nope. not this year.

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his turning 5 started with the lil party held in school. nothing grand and big, it was just among his immediate class/group mates. the teacher narrated his life to date (as per my notes to her prior to the party date) as he performed the birthday walk to mark his 5 years. following this, the class sang to him and he cut the cake which was very simply decorated by yours truly. he then picked a book to be read to the class during storybook time and then party favours were distributed. short and sweet, enough to leave him happy and shy all the same.

:: favours for the boys ::

:: favours for the girls ::

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three days before he actually turned 5, we had the family over for tea. both sides of the immediate family came and it was again, very simply organized. a bit of food to keep 'em tummies happy, bubbles for the kids, lots of toys from Big Z's ridiculously huge collection (of trains, mainly!) and a lot of running around and screaming was the scene for that day. again, it left him happy and satisfied with the celebration. this time round, we ordered a Thomas the Tank Engine cake since he's been asking for one and seeing as there was no theme to the 'party', a Thomas cake would fare well.

:: favours for the cousins; persoalized ::

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on his birthday, at precisely 1:36pm on Wednesday 20th August 2008 (incidentally, it was also a Wednesday on his actual birth date, 20th August 2003), Big Z was waiting for his fried noodles in Hong Kong Disneyland's Plaza Inn restaurant. that's right. at the very last minute, we decided to fly to Hong Kong for a quick holiday for our family of four. Disneyland was to be the highlight of the trip and that we were to visit the park on his birthday. so visit the park on his birthday we sure did. it was a 'no frills' holiday for us; we flew in, took each day as they came by with very little planning done for each day. relaxing to a certain extent and a good 6 days of spending quality time with only each other. Hong Kong was never a holiday destination i had wished for. never. but in that last minute of wanting to go away somewhere, i had budget, plus amusement for Big Z in mind. Hong Kong was the closest and cheapest. at the end of the trip, i asked Big Z if he'd like to come back to Hong Kong some time. his reply, "no Mummy .. enough of Hong Kong already. too many days in Hong Kong. it's someone else's turn now". lol ... fair enough, i suppose. and by 'someone', he really is referring to some other city/country.

:: Big Z + Baby Z on Main Street Hong Kong Disneyland ::

:: the happy 5 year old ::

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i still on occasion find it hard to believe my son's already 5 years old. as a baby, he wasn't the easiest to care for, for the simple reason that he only really wanted me. honestly, i pretty much did nothing else besides tending to his every need. social life was as good as none for me in his first year especially. but despite the lack of sleep, the abundance of stress and emotional challenges, i wouldn't trade it for anything else.

in Big Z, i not only have a boy to call my own, i now have a lil man to call my best friend (i'm his best friend too, by the way .. though it comes with lots of condition!). he amazes me with his innocent child-enthusiasm for life in general. his meticulous self when drawing trains and designing new tracks is inspiring too. his wit and sense of humour is just entertaining and his love for his family is what i'm most proud and thankful for. i'm looking forward to watching him grow more and to jot his coming antics, interests and pet peeves as he clocks in 5 more years and many many more to come.

big Z : the snakes again ... coz you know ... they don't live in our planet ... so i have to like them too ... they're on another planet, but they can be our friends too, Mummy. (ok ... now planets come into the equation too, i see)

and a lil question on Baby Z. any of you have babies or had babies on soy milk? Baby Z is now on soy formula as her previous milk caused her pretty bad eczema. since the switch of milk, her skin's improved but have we got ourselves quite a poop machine now! honestly, her poo has never been more foul than it is now that she's on soy. it's like everytime she takes a dump, it's for the whole week's consumption! haha.

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for those interested in paintings, or possibly just like clicking on links from any one blog you're reading, do click on my 'patterned' blog for some latest paintings i've put up.